NFL free agency preview: With Steelers pinching pennies, where will Bud Dupree land?

Free agency begins March 17. Who are the best players available? And will the Dolphins make a play for them? We explore in this series of player profiles ahead of the league new year.

Bud Dupree

2020 team: Pittsburgh Steelers.

Position: Edge defender.

Age: 28.

ESPN free agent ranking: 7.

2020 stats: Eleven games (all starts), eight sacks, 31 tackles (eight for loss), 15 quarterback hits, two forced fumbles, 60.2 Pro Football Focus grade.

2020 salary: $15.8 million.

Market value (per Spotrac): Four years, $72.8 million.

Player summary: One thing’s for sure: The Steelers won’t franchise Dupree again in 2021. And that’s no indictment on the player. He was plenty effective last year before tearing his ACL in December. But another tag would cost Pittsburgh $19 million in 2021 — which would be untenable in any season, but particularly this one. Pittsburgh is already at least $14 million over the cap even without Dupree on the books. Look for the Titans, who need major defensive help, to be a player if he hits the open market.

Likelihood he joins the Dolphins: Low. As we’ve laid out elsewhere, the Dolphins have neither the resources nor the need to spend big on a pass rusher. They got after the quarterback fine last year and everyone’s coming back. But, it is tantalizing to think what Brian Flores could do with a talent like Dupree.

Quotable: “We’re never going to eliminate a great player like Bud Dupree, because we don’t know what Bud’s market is, and Bud doesn’t know what his market is at this point. I think that’s pretty common for not only our free agents but the whole free agency group until we get a solid cap number. ... We have to adjust and know that he might be a possibility, he might not be. Only time will tell with that.” — Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert.

This story was originally published February 19, 2021 at 11:58 AM.

Adam H. Beasley

Miami Herald

305-376-2387

Adam Beasley has covered the Dolphins for the Miami Herald since 2012, and has worked for the newspaper since 2006. He is a graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communications and has written about sports professionally since 1996. Support my work with a digital subscription